Stomach Ache!

My advisory joined the other two girls' advisories today for a little spring splurge in the warm sun... We socialized and ate WAY too much junk food! Here are some pictures of the fun!

I wonder why our stomachs hurt?!?

Greek Pottery

In this project, seventh graders created a Greek inspired vase out of red low-fire clay using the coil method of clay hand-building. Students chose which pot style they wanted to create out of ten possibilities. After constructing their coiled vase, students chose the imagery to paint based on their shape and did so using either a black-figure or red-figure style (Click HERE to read about the styles in an earlier post). I LOVE these, don't you?!

Aboriginal X-Ray Three-Step Reduction Prints

The "X-ray" tradition in in Aboriginal art is thought to have developed around 2000 B.C. and continues to the present day. As its name implies, the X-ray style depicts animals or human figures in which the internal organs and bone structures are clearly visible. X-ray art includes sacred images of ancestral supernatural beings as well as secular works depicting fish and animals that were important food sources. Through the creation of X-ray art, Aboriginal painters express their ongoing relationships with the natural and supernatural worlds.

Dot paintings are the traditional visual art form of the Aborigines in Western Australia Central Desert. The canvas is covered in small dots of paint which create patterns and symbols. Fifth graders created a three-step reduction relief print in the X-ray style using carving tools and a rubber-like block (they reduced, or carved from, their plates a total of three times, printing after each reduction). Students depicted animals with portions of their skeletal and organ systems visible within the outline of the body. They then created a border of colorful dots and patterns, similar to those seen in most traditional Aboriginal artwork.

Slab Birdhouses

Third trimester Ceramics Club members made these beautiful birdhouses just in time for spring:

Greek Pot Painting

I took these photos of my 7th graders glazing their Greek pots the other day and I think they are pretty cool. You will see the finished products on here soon.

Here a student doing an example of black figure pottery- when the figures/main subject are glazed in and the details are scratched out:

Here is another student doing an example of red figure pottery- when the figures/main subject are left the color of the red clay and the background of the pot is painted black:

Observational Hand Drawings in ASL

American Sign Language (ASL) is a complete, complex language that employs signs made with the hands and other movements, including facial expressions and postures of the body. It is the first language of many deaf North Americans, and one of several communication options available to deaf people. ASL is said to be the fourth most commonly used language in the United States.

The American Manual Alphabet is a manual alphabet that augments the vocabulary of American Sign Language when spelling individual letters of a word is the preferred or only option, such as with proper names or the titles of works. Letters should be signed with the dominant hand and in most cases, with palm facing the viewer (click here to see a chart of signs/letters). In this project, sixth grade students used their own hands as a model to create drawings of their names, initials or other short words spelled out in sign language using the Manual Alphabet. With the help of a lamp and reduced lighting the room, they added shadows and highlights of varying values to create a three dimensional appearance